Jockey Dean Yendall said he had jokingly told trainer Paul Preusker a couple of months ago that Steparty could be something special for latter’s Horsham stable.
With an impressive victory in the Royal Children’s Hospital Trophy (1200m) at Flemington on Saturday, those words could be vindicated as the two-year-old by American sire Artie Schiller sprinted away from its rivals to record a 3½-length win.
“I think he’s the best horse you’ve ever had,” Yendall recalled saying to Preusker.
“I’ve watched a lot of his horses go through the grades, including his other good ones, but this horse his pretty good.”
Maintaining a perfect start in his short career so far, this win followed a successful debut at Ballarat last month over 1100-metres in similarly rain affected going.
“He’s big in structure but he’s got that huge stride on him,” Yendall added.
“He does it so comfortably and easy.”
Preusker shared Yendall’s opinion of the colt.
“He’s one of the toughest horses I’ve trained,” Preusker said.
“I’ve always had a lot of luck with the Artie Schillers and they’re all nice tough, trainable horses.”
Though any further runs this preparation will depend on how Steparty ($3.60) pulls through this outing but a Flemington reappearance in the Next Generation Sprinters Final (1200m) on July 1 is a possibility.
“There are no rules as to what we’ll do with him,” he added.
“We were thinking there might be two or three runs in him but that might be trimmed up.”
The Leon and Troy Corstens-trained Dolphin Skin ($31) and $2.90 betr favourite Cogido filled the minor placings.